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0 e I-LP. NEWBURY TIME LOOK. No. 262,102. Patented Aug. 1, 1882.

Unrren Sra'res ATENT rarest HENRY F. NEWBURY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

TIME- LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,102, dated August1, 1882. Application filed May 5, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that .I, HENRY F. NEWBURY, of thecity of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of N ew York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks and the Mode ofMounting the Same, (Uase J;) and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of my invention, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

A chronometric or time look, as the term is understood in the art ofsafe and vaultprotection, is a lock whose bolt or checking device(sometimes technically called dog) is, for the purpose of unlocking atleast, under the control of a time-movement capable of withdrawing itautomatically, or of permitting it to be withdrawn, from the lockin gposition upon the arrival of the hour for which'the mechanism haspreviouslybeen set. By placing such locks upon the interior of thestructures to be protected, and without mechanical connection with theexterior thereof, it has been supposed that an efficient security isprovided against what are known as masked burglaries, and that thuslocks of this class afi'ord complete protection against the operationsof the burglar, except when he resorts to violence calculated to forcethe walls of the safe or vault. I have discovered, however, that thesecurity thus aiforded is apparent only, and that any of the time-locksnow upon the market, when mounted in the established way, can bedefeated by the burglar without difticulty and without resort to forceto break or penetrate the walls of the structure in which the lock isused. From this it results that practically a safe or vault guarded by acombination lock has its security increased but little, if any, by theaddition of any of the existing timelocks, and that the protectionafforded by such timeloek alone is farless reliable thanthat afl'ordedby an ordinary combination-lock alone. This defectin the existingchronometric locks as heretofore mounted arises from the frangiblecharacter of certain parts of the time-movement, which in all fine workare made so slight and delicate as to be broken readily by a suddenshock, such as might becommunicated to them through the walls of thesafe or vault by the explosion of a small charge of dynamite,nitroglycerine, or other quick explosive outside the walls of thestructure, but in proximity to that part of the walls against which thelock is secured. The parts of a time-movement which are farthest removedfrom the main wheel are the most delicate, and therefore the most easilybroken, this being the case especially with the staff of the third wheeland with the pallet and escapewheel staffs. The journals of thesestaffs, as ordinarily constructed, are made exceedingly small for thepurpose ofreducing the surfaces of contact, and thus the friction, to aminimum, and the finer the workmanship of the lock the slighter and morefrangible are these parts likely to be. Any material increase in theextent of the bearings, whereby the strength of the parts would beaugmented, would correspondinglyincrease the friction and impair thetime keeping properties of the movement. Time-locks with jeweledmovements, also, are especially exposed to injury in the mannerindieated, since thejewels,by reason of their brittleness, might easilybe broken by the force of an explosion ofgreat intensity in closeproximity to them. The destruction ofany of the partsintermediatebetween the balance-wheel and the main wheelatonce releases the mainwheel from the control of the escapement, and the movement immediatelybegins to run down, a movement which otherwise would continue to run forseveral days without rewinding now running down in as many seconds. Asthe dial or other device arranged to act upon the lockbolt or dog towithdraw it or permit it to move from the locking position is actuatedfrom the same spring that drives the main wheel, its speed will becorrespondingly accelerated, so that the dog, instead of being withdrawnfrom engagement with the bolt-work of the door at the regular hour forwhich the lock has been set, will be withdrawn immediately upon theexplosion or other shock, leaving the safe or vault, so far as thetime-lock is concerned, entirely under the control of the burglar. Ihave also discovered that when time-locks are mounted in the waysheretofore practiced an explosion directed against the exterior of thesafe, and of far less intensity than would be required to destroy orbreak through the door or wall of the safe, might detach the lock fromits fastenings, and by thus moving it from its proper position cause itto release its dogging action upon the door-bolts. So, likewise, in theease of ordinary combination or dial locks, as also with key-locks, whenmounted in the ways heretofore practiced, such an explosion would belikely to tear the locks from their i'astenings, and thus release thebolt-work from the protection of the lock-bolts. In any of these casesthe burglar, having by this simple means defeated the lock or locks ofthe safe, can at once efl'ect an entrance by merely turning the handleof the spindle which communicates from the outside with the bolt-workwithin, and thus retract the bolts.

The object of the present invention is to prevent the retraction ofdoor-bolts ot' the safe or vaultwhen the lock orlocks designed forguarding them have been broken or displaced by an excessive shock orvibration arising from an explosion or other cause; and it consists inits main feature in arranging, in combination with the lock or looks,the boltavork of the door, and the spindle thereof, a movable ordetaching device, by means of which, when the lock or locks aresubjected to a heavy shock, the operative connection between the spindleand the bolt-work will be destroyed. This will leave the door-bolts inthe lockingposition, and the manipulation of the handle of the spindlewill have no effect to withdraw them from such position.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a front view of the inner face of the door of a safefurnished with the ordinary multiple boltwork and a lock, the particularlock here illustrated being the well known Holmes timelock. Fig. 2 is aside and sectional view of the same on the line no 00 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3being a detached view of the carryingbar, and 'Fig. 4 being a separateview of the detaching device shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, A represents the lock; (J, theloclrbolt; E, the door of the safe; F, the door-frame; Ur G, thedoor-bolts; H, the carrying or tie bar; I 1, the bolt-bars; J, a stud,which serves as an abutment for the end of the lock-bolt O; K, a pivotedangle or bell-crank lever, and L a 1ink connecting this angle-lever tothe tie-bar H. \Vhen the end of the lock-bolt or dog is interposedbetween the abutment J and the head of the angle-lever K the bolt-workis locked. \V hen the lock-bolt is retracted the door-bolts G G can bethrown back and the door opened. This is effected by means of the handle(not shown in the drawings) on the outer end of the spindle M, whichpasses through the door. To the inner end of this spindle there issecured a forked or slotted arm, N, which engages with the pin 0,projecting inwardly toward the door from the tie-bar H, and by thismeans the bolts can be thrown to the right or left, according to thedirection in which the spindle is rotated.

Instead of securing the connecting-pin O to the tie-bar H, as hashitherto been the practice, I secure it to a heavy block of metal, P,letting the connecting-pin pass through the tiebar toward the door. Thisblock P has another pin, Q, which also passes through the tiebar, and isprovided with a button on its end. A spring, 1%, placed between thetie-bar and this button, operates to hold the block against the face ofthe tie-bar under normal conditions. \Vhen, however, the part of thedoor in the vicinity of this block is subjected to a sudden and heavyshock, as from the use of some quick explosive against the outer face ofthe safe opposite the lock, the block will be thrown violentlyforward,the springRyieldingsutticien tly to permit the pin 0 to be withdrawnfrom the fork or slot of the spindle-arm N, as indicated by the dottedlines in Fig. 2. A latch, S, dropping behind the block P, will preventits return.

It is obvious that when the pin 0 has been withdrawn from thespindle-arm the door-bolts are wholly disconnected from the spindle, sothat the turning of the latter will be ineffectual to withdraw thedoor-bolts from the jainb of Y the door, notwithstanding that theexplosion may have unseated the lock or broken its time mechanism orother parts, and thereby dcstroyed its control over the bolts. Theimportaut function of the block l in this disconnecting mechanism is toweight the pin 0. This weight should be sufficient to give the pin suchmomentum, when subjected to the force of a shock calculated to endangerthe lock, as to insure the withdrawal of the pin from the spindle-arm.It will be readily understood that the mere form of the disconnectingmechanism may be widely changed without departing from the principle ofthe invention, as also the form of the latch for preventing the returnof the pin to its normal position. Instead, for instance, oi using alatch for this latter purpose, substantially the same result would besecured by so weighting the handle of the spindle that the spindle'armwould move automatically and be carried out of alignment with the pin 0the moment the latter should be withdrawn from it. Then, if on therecoil the pin returned to its former position, it would fail to enterthe fork of the spindle-arm. So, also, instead of having the pin 0arranged to disconnect from thespindle'arm, this arm might be arrangedto disconnect from the spindle;

and this, again, could be done in various ways.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the essential feature of theinvention is that the operative connection between the spindle and thedoor-bolts, whatever the special form or construction of the devices maybe, be such that it will be interrupted by the force of a shock directedagainst the door ofsuflicient intensity to endanger the lock. To thisend it is manifest that the disconnecting devices should be rectedagainst the lock, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a movable connecting device arranged between thespindle of a vault or safe door and the door-bolts of the same,substantially as and for the purpose described, a latch or stop to holdthe parts out 20 of engagement when once disconnected.

HENRY F. NEWBURY.

Witnesses:

SAML. A. DUNCAN, R0131. H. DUNCAN.

